Birmingham

Why Birmingham?

Birmingham is located in the centre of the UK with connections to all major cities across Europe and the rest of the world, and provides exceptional technological infrastructure at an affordable cost, supported by a highly skilled talent pool and leading national universities. This winning combination creates a perfect ecosystem for tech innovators, start-ups, scale-ups and creatives.

The presence of major companies and a young, diverse population, means that Birmingham is already recognised as a leading tech hub for progressive thinkers and a rich entrepreneurial environment. Acclaimed as number one in the UK for start-ups for four years running, the city offers all the benefits of an international location without the high costs that can quickly drain resources.

Support is available for property, business, introductions, networking, recruitment, training, PR, marketing and signposting funding opportunities. Birmingham has one of the most culturally diverse and highly skilled tech workforces in the UK with 40,000 employees in the sector, and 20 local universities (within one hour of Birmingham), three of which are world-renowned and located in the city centre. Within the universities there are over 100 tech and digital Business Centres of Excellence, with more than 110,000 graduates per annum.

As a destination, Greater Birmingham is an international city that competes highly with all other major European cities. Commercial property is less expensive than any other leading UK city, yet the quality of life and infrastructure is world class. The region is going through an unprecedented period of transformation, and is leading growth and development trends in the UK.

Innovation Birmingham Campus (IBC)

Innovation Birmingham Campus (IBC) is one of the UK’s largest, leading tech campuses and the fastest growing in the country. IBC is the base for Birmingham’s tech community – a place for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors looking to develop or fund tech start-ups with high-growth potential. Campus facilities include the Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) multi-occupancy start-up centre with hot-desking facilities and a wide range of flexible office units, enabling a flexible and collaborative environment to fast-track the growth and development of tech start-ups.

Start-ups in the e4f incubator benefit from an initial six months’ free access to a dynamic co-working centre, with full tech support and meeting facilities. Medium-sized enterprises and large corporates benefit from a platform for new commercial opportunities with the tech entrepreneurs and businesses based at the Campus, all of which provide a unique opportunity to learn, collaborate and drive forward latest industry trends and developments within all the companies.

Longbridge Technology Park

The £1 billion Longbridge regeneration scheme is the area’s largest mixed-use scheme outside Birmingham city centre and one of the largest urban regeneration programmes in the UK.

At the heart of Longbridge is the £100 million Tech Park, a new hub for progressive technologies and services, and home to over 60 local, national and international businesses. A comprehensive refurbishment of the Park’s Innovation Centre houses several data heavy operators benefiting from broadband connections as fast as 1GB per second or higher.

Longbridge West, the site’s next phase, will also provide an ideal environment for fast growing, high tech manufacturing companies.

Silicon Canal

Birmingham’s voice of the tech and digital community, Silicon Canal is a non-profit organisation run and owned by the tech community. It promotes, connects, showcases and supports the digital technology community in the city and is the ‘go to’ organisation for designers, developers and marketers. In addition, it also hosts an array of tech meet-ups, events and its own highly prestigious and well attended awards event.

Silicon Canal has over 100 ‘ambassadors’, all of whom offer free advice and support to tech companies within the city.

The Custard Factory

The Custard Factory in Birmingham is one of the largest hubs for digital media and creative businesses in the region. The urban estate has continually expanded since its opening and is now home to around 400 businesses.

Fazeley Studios

Fazeley Studios comprises 45 elegant and fashionable studio offices for 5 – 200 person businesses, ideal for the digital and creative sectors. The luxurious, elegant studios are at the heart of the burgeoning Custard Factory area, which is rapidly becoming the city’s main media and creative locations and a nationally recognised cluster.